The Flight of the 10:45 Express

                     

Capo II
A             em                 G             A
"Have you the time of day?" the Miser said to Rosa Fe,
em              G                  E
     but she ignored him, brooding on the game of chance:
   A           em          G              A    
"What have I created if I have to pay to have it freighted?
em                  G                E
     "The train conductor calls the dance!"
      A                 em               G  
They left Miz John to sleep it off, and hastened to
           A                em              G
     the station where the Sheriff waited
(G)                           A
To seize the trade lines for good.
G                 D                 A
     And so the Queen of Clubs and Diamonds
         G                         E
called thunder till the hillside broke;
         A              G
     and as the sky commenced to rain
          D                A              em
     she lowered down her walking cane
(em)                        A
And the silence fell like smoke...


Chorus:
             em
Then there's the wailing of a banshee
             A
     as she heaves out of the dark
         em                              G
And the clickin-clickin-clickin of the wheels
               D                 E
     upon the rail all full of spark!
              A                G
You'd better have your ticket ready,
             D                E
     better have your hanky pressed;
              G 
For there'll be no slackers let on board tonight,
             E                 A
     on the ten-forty-five express!
Fire that the earthquake feels announced the 
                              braking of the wheels
     before the figure wreathed in fire crackling white:
"Step down, step down, I'll own you as I own this town!"
     - her words were stones into the night.
Then a wind whipped through that town with a wail like the
     waking of a secret dream of miles gone by
As the Conductor made his stand.
     Against the lightning of the Queen he threw
the fire of coal and steel and stress;
     with fire for fire and cry for cry
     till fire and pitch rained from the sky,
And the winner none could guess.

Chorus:
For there's the wailing of a banshee....

Meanwhile, in the sticky streets, Nimue, reeling from the Micky,
     ran from the burning hotel, turquoise in her hands.
Daisy, the barmaid was sheltering beneath a car - they'd
     better haul ass, if she had no other plans;
Down the shadow of the cars, Nimue climbed up to the post
     the engineer had fled -
"How hard can it be to steal a train?"
     One track led to a barricade of stone
and the other off a precipice led;
     but she cried, "Damn the brakes and damn your eyes,
     "we'll steam this engine through the skies,
"Full speed ahead!"

Break: [A-G-D-A em-E; A-G-D-A em-E]

Chorus:
Then there's the wailing of a banshee
     as she fades into the night
And the clickin-clickin-clickin of the wheels
     upon the clouds of crystal white!
The old men waiting in the club car
     thought they'd never live to find
A day the ten-forty-five express
     left the station on time!